Bloody Knives

Atmospheric and intense music outfit Bloody Knives are set to release their compelling new album, 70 Years of Static, tomorrow, December 4th.

70 Years of Static is Bloody Knives’ fifth full length and was written and recorded by the pared down core of founder Preston Maddox (vocals, bass, synths) and Jake McCown (drums, synths), with Maddox mixing and mastering the LP.

This is the band’s follow-up to 2018’s White Light Black Moon and the first release as a duo since the debut album Burn It All Down bowed in 2010.

Big Takeover is thrilled to host the premiere of the 70 Years of Static today, a day before its official self-release.

Bloody Knives excel at creating a distinctive hybridized sound that has been described as nightmare dream-rock and future punk, with their style existing at a meeting point between industrial, shoegaze, post-punk, drum and bass, ambient, noise, and electronica.

The sound of 70 Years of Static marks a return to Bloody Knives’ punk origins in structure and style, but continues their sonic expansion into dense noise and lush soundscapes.

Songs on the album pay homage to a non-existent future, a false nostalgia of the past, and our inexorable hurtling into the void.

The release also includes a remix album with contributions from Dean Garcia (SPC ECO, STFU, CURVE), Secret Wilderness (Screen Vinyl Image, Alcian Blue), Ian Ljunquist (Me You Us Them), and We Are Parasols.

Writing and recording of 70 Years of Static began in 2019, with post-production extending into this year. While the initial songwriting and recording was quick and spontaneous, the post-production was slow and methodical, trying to maintain the energy of the live performance alongside the digital elements of the music.

The result is a blending of the kinetic energy of a band recording in a room together with the kind of organic synth rhythm pulses common to early electronic music, filtered through a modern sound aesthetic.

Songs are propelled by kinetic industrial beats, ominous and grimy electronics, extended synths diffusion, winding and/or blasting noise, and spectrally disembodied vocals.

On this album Maddox and McCown explore more ambient space and hopeful vocal tones within the potent and prismatic collision. Maddox has a penchant for bleak sentiments, with titles like “This Is The Way You Burn” and “Extinction” being strong indicators of the generally nihilistic direction of the lyrics.

Galvanic industrial-techno slammer “Lostaway” opens the LP with a rapid-fire restlessness that marks the rest of the record, while heightened “Nye” and “Ashes Into Dust” euphorically batter the senses.

Driving single “Out From the Shadows Into the Light,” which just got an accompanying performance music video, reverberates with pulsating synths, brief screeches of guitar noise, and highly dynamic drumwork.

“This Is The Way You Burn” pushes with urgent drums ‘n’ cymbals fireworks, while low-grinding sonics battle against Maddox’s spacey, echoed vocals. The end is neigh on the vivid “Extinction” that spirals out into the expanse with jagged guitar fragments, foreboding vocals, and black-hole pulverizing noise. - The Big Takeover

New Noise Magazine is pleased to bring forth the video premiere of “New Machines” by Bloody Knives. The song is the first release off of their upcoming record, White Light Black Moon. The song is a chaotic and virulent release with furiously quick drum patterns and a vocal style that tap dances over top the orchestration. With a blistering performance, the song is a perfect introduction to the new release from Bloody Knives. The ghastly experience can be viewed and heard below, with guitar work that sounds ominous, like the cold chill of the night taking over the day. - New Noise Magazine

Preston Maddox, the sonic visionary behind the electrifying and exhilarating genre-hybrid rock band Bloody Knives, unveils new album details and more.

Like a mythical unicorn, but with devil horns, Austin, Texas-based Bloody Knives is a one-of-a-kind band that produces a unique sound that is at once bludgeoning and exhilarating. Melding elements from the noise rock, industrial, (post-)punk, shoegaze, and electronic genres – and branching out even more into drum & bass territory on upcoming album White Light Black Moon, Bloody Knives unleashes a wild beast of an LP. Preston Maddox, the sonic visionary behind the music project, provides insight into Bloody Knives’ recording process, bleak lyrics, and exciting prospects for 2018.

Hello Preston! What is the current Bloody Knives line-up and what instruments do each of you play?

Preston Maddox- vocals/bass/synth, Jake McCown-drums/synth, and Jack O'Hara Harris-guitar.

Is it true that there are no guitars (besides bass) on all your records, except for 2016’s I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This?

Yes it is! Even when Jack joined us as a guitar player, there was a period of adjustment for us with learning how to fit guitar into the band, but we figured it out, or rather Kevin Shields figured a ton of it out, and we learned indirectly from him.

Where does your interest/obsession with violence and death (by way of your lyrics) originate from?

It is a vehicle for ideas to move through, a language of its own that is innately human and relatable to anyone. Anything involving violence and death is exhilarating, no matter how disturbing it is. Everyone can relate and understand or feel something from that if they want to. I'm more into saying things without actually saying them. I’m not a literal lyricist. I prefer imagery and something that pulls somone below the surface instead of the kind of lyrical equivalent of a person playing a private concert for someone. We are distant, especially on this record.

What are your thoughts on Nietzsche? Is he an influence on your lyrics/outlook at all?

I found Nietzsche kinda boring in a "been there, thought that" kind of way. Maybe if I was younger and found him I would have loved it, but by the time I read him I had already developed similar ideas about life on my own and I wasn’t compelled to dive into further analysis of them.

What is your recording process like? Are you 100% at the controls?

I'm always at the center of the recording process and method, but I've learned to delegate things for a better end result. Most of that is a result of finding people capable of doing the things that need to be done who are willing and capable of fitting into the aesthetic of the band. In the process of creating the record I lose perspective and it has been good to hand off the mixing and mastering to somebody who can still have fresh ears for the project.

What happened for the recording and producing of I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This? The sound is much sharper and clearer on that album compared to your previous output!

I became a much better engineer, I upgraded my studio, I used high quality keyboards for the first time ever, and I handed the record over to Adam Stilson to mix and master. Adam did a top job with all of it. All of the instruments occupied their own place in the mix which is really difficult to do with a record as dense as that one is. - Rebel Noise

Bloody Knives' latest record White Light Black Moon is a dark and chaotic ride, a soothing and searing trip into the void, a detached glimpse into a dystopian future, digital ghosts drifting through an empty night. A trip through the late ‘90s jungle filtered through shards of turbulent industrial punk, White Light Black Moon find the band in a place somewhere between visceral ambience and mechanical precision that recalls the gritty atmosphere of Dom & Roland with the raw electronic energy of early Ministry, the sonic wash of My Bloody Valentine with detached, ghostly vocals falling through slivers of icy guitars and synths.

Expertly mixed and mastered by Jason Novak (DJ? Acucrack, Acumen Nation, Vampyre Anvil, Czar), the album flows together seamlessly, one song moving into the next like a dream sequence in a dystopian nightmare. White Light Black Moon is a glowing beacon of compulsive darkness, a new chapter in the evolution of a band that continues to defy convention and escape definition.



White Light Black Moon will be available in 12" vinyl, CD, and digital, as well as a limited edition vinyl bundle which includes a 7" lathe vinyl record with remixes from Dean Garcia (SPC ECO, STFU, Curve) and We Are Parasols, the digital album in any file format, and a 12-page custom art book, including copies of the original lyrics, album notes, and more. 20 are available. All preorders get digital and streaming options upon purchase prior to release. You can order the album HERE. - Brutal Resonance

Bloody Knives is a noisy Austin band that is known for its blistering live shows, and their releases have been equally frenetic, until now. On this new release, the beast is tempered a bit. Layers of sonic fuzz war with bassist Preston Maddox’s ethereal vocals, and his angelic croon wins out (he will no doubt laugh when he reads this). The band dumps thrash, shoegaze, dream pop, space rock, and industrial elements into the mix and emerges with a fresh, unadorned style that suits them perfectly.

This is post post punk, the perfect soundtrack for your dystopian daydreams! I love the thrumming bass (Preston) and nearly metronomic drum patterns (Jake McCown) on the stunning opener, ‘Darkstar’. The guitars (Jack O’Hara Harris) swoop in and out of the churning mix, and it flirts with droning psych in small ways. A truly epic tune, followed by the equally mind blowing but down and dirty ‘Demonism’. The latter tune reminds me the most of their older material, and your senses will explode. ‘Dig the Hole’ features guest musician Ritchard F. Napierkowski on keyboards and is a veritable burner on the dance floor. The title alone reminds me of Chemical Brothers and it inhabits the same blurry electronic space as that UK outfit.



‘New Machines’ is nightmare music for a creepy sci-fi flick, replete with insectoid synth bleats, heavy keyboard washes, and insanely fast drumming. Chilly and slick, it will slide constrictor like and annihilate you. McCown plays like a man possessed, and would fit in well in a punk band. ‘Midnight Hour’ is hazy, atmospheric dream pop with that thick, rubbery bass I love so well. It is strangely uplifting with a dangerous edge to it that never relents.

‘Slicer Repeater’ is brutally cold and Preston’s voice floats as if from a great distance away. ‘HKV’ is another barnstormer, and has a great melody. Preston’s bass does battle with pummeling drum beats and dramatic keyboard swooshes. The aliens have definitely come to conquer us by song’s end! ‘Hall of Mirrors’ has a killer melody and takes on a cloak of chaotic shoegaze that meshes perfectly with the catchy synth lines. Lovely!

‘Diamond Lives’ is an ominous but cool tune about the wealthy elite and how they should be abolished, their wealth distributed among the Have Nots. ‘prelude (reprise)’ is short and piano driven, and it’s the album’s final moment. In summary, this is a mighty fine outing from a talented group that should be savoured immediately. - Echos And Dust

Blurb: Wistful and seemingly impenetrable layers of feedback and noise permeate amid subtly melodic songwriting and searing post-punk arrangements, making this one of Bloody Knives’ finest efforts.




For nearly a decade, Bloody Knives has been carving out its own unique niche in underground music, guided by the singular vision of bassist/vocalist Preston Maddox. With guitarist Jack O’Hara Harris and drummer/artist Jake McCown, the band’s previous album, 2016’s I Will Cut Your Heart Out for This showed the trio’s sound evolving into a stronger production sound, sharpening the band’s blend of noisy post-grunge and ambient shoegazing bliss. Having performed at that year’s ColdWaves, it is only fitting that Jason Novak should jump into the producer’s chair with Bloody Knives for this latest effort, White Light Black Moon.

There are certain elements intrinsic to Bloody Knives sound, the most prominent of which is Maddox’s heavily distorted bass, a sound both gutturally menacing and inescapably resonant in tandem with Harris’ shimmering, crystalline, and howling guitars and McCown’s vibrant drumming. “Darkstar” begins the album as if to ease the listener into the audio onslaught. From here, White Light Black Moon, the listener is plunged into the icy waters of shrill feedback, noise, and rhythm, with Maddox’s ghostly vocals offering a melodic anchor that always seems on the verge of fading into the miasma of distortion; indeed, there are points where it would be difficult to tell where his echoing voice ends and the pulsating stabs of guitar and synth begin, as on a song like “Demonism” or the equally lurid “Diamond Lives.” Similarly, tracks like “HKV” and “Midnight Hour,” while still drenched in the frigid ambience of feedback and synth, bear a more familiar post-punk tonality, McCown’s steady rock beats in the latter track and the breakneck force of “HKV”’s chorus being especially striking. And then there are tracks like “Under the Black Moon” and “New Machines” in which dynamic drum & bass beats and cascading layers of synths add a greater dimension to Bloody Knives sound and are sure to remind some of Novak’s more electronic work in Acucrack or Acumen Nation, but to assume that the inclusion of these elements is solely a result of his influence would be a disservice to the trio’s own exploratory sensibilities. For instance, while “Dig the Hole” is aided by some blistering breakbeats and some subtle glitch effects in the vocals, its greatest asset is the strong songwriting as the chorus may be among the catchiest on the whole record.

Comparisons to the likes of My Bloody Valentine or Medicine still abound in Bloody Knives’ music, but with the greater incorporation of electronic elements and more intricate percussion, one could easily detect hints of Curve or even Novak’s own short-lived Fawn project on White Light Black Moon. Some listeners may find the veritable walls of noise and feedback to be as impenetrable as a frozen glacier, but at the heart of it all is a band with a distinct melodic songwriting style, making the merger of musical ingredients all the more harmonious. Let your patience melt through the ice and you will be amply rewarded. - ReGen